Thi Sau Martial Arts Street: Preserving the old features in the modern city

(Baonghean) - Every time I pass by Vo Thi Sau Street in Vinh City, I often wonder why there is such a strange street in terms of road shape and streetscape? It is not an exaggeration to say that if it is taken care of and paid attention to from now on, cleverly planned and renovated, and the rest is intentionally "preserved", then in the future this street could be one of the streets that attracts visitors from afar who want to learn about the life of a leading urban area in Nghe An...

Now, if you ask about Vo Thi Sau Street, people will immediately direct you to the turnoff starting from Phan Dang Luu Street (next to the eastern fence, Vinh Brewery); but the houses on the street are numbered from Vinh University outwards, which means that in the past, the bustling street started from the residential areas deep inside, where the soul of the street still remains despite the four seasons and the years.

Vo Thi Sau Street.

Nearly two kilometers long with unexpected twists and turns, Vo Thi Sau Street creates a sense of high and low tones from the scenery, people's faces and street sounds. The vibrant high tones are on the inside, starting from the beginning of the street section that is suddenly cut off from Nguyen Huy Oanh Street to the intersection with Bach Lieu Street; countless old and new alleys and lanes are contrasted by the bustling street surface, creating an old, mossy appearance; then the old look of those alleys and lanes gives the street a bustling and somewhat shabby look, like the nostalgia of Hang Dao, Hang Ma, Hang Dau... of Hanoi, the capital of the North, which has largely faded away in the masterpieces of Thach Lam, Vu Bang, and Nguyen Tuan.

This short stretch of Vo Thi Sau Street in Vinh City must have recently had street name signs put up by the urban managers; because many alleys across the East side of the street still have signs reading “Alley number X… belonging to block Y….” of Ben Thuy Ward. The narrow street has one lane for vehicles, and no sidewalks; the services are mainly for students, pupils, and in general, young people who study at all schools and work at all jobs in Vinh City, who come from all over the North Central region to stay here around Vinh University.

Therefore, the houses inside are rented out, and outside are crowded with kiosks for rent to sell goods. The most are still online shops selling all kinds of young fashion items, many of which are rented by hard-working, dynamic students to do business to earn money for their studies; then games, computer and phone repair services, sewing, hair washing, student haircuts... But worth mentioning are the stalls selling snacks, rice - pho - vermicelli... including guava, green plum salad, dried apricots, coffee, porridge, banh muot, banh beo - xeo, grilled corn, green rice flakes of Hanoi, Hue sweet soup, Quang noodles... which make people think of the pages of writer Thach Lam talking about the gifts from the countryside of people in the city (Hanoi) and the people from all over the country bring back to make the city fragrant all year round...

The good thing is that the street is not noisy, crowded with bars and services, but there is no hustle and bustle, chaos, or the usual noisy invitations, price-calling, and bargaining; the gentle sellers and buyers are mostly students from the countryside who come to the city, who do not compete with green or red hair, know how to save money, study hard... That habit of the young generation also makes the elderly feel inspired and follow the example of exemplary speech. In front of the green, red, purple, yellow, and sparkling, cheerful online shops and mini restaurants, occasionally there is a "country" woman sitting with a shoulder pole selling local gifts, chewing betel nut, or a few men fixing bicycles in their spare time hunched over a chess board, their opponents sometimes being young students...

The narrow street has no tall trees, but only a few magnolia trees, green fig trees with drooping roots, or shy bougainvillea bushes beside the door frame, the alley with exposed moss-covered bricks, have contributed to imbuing the soul of the street with the past and present. Those people, those landscapes, those gifts full of the flavor of the countryside, are being swept away by the youthful flow of life of a very unique "student street" of Vinh.

There is also no street in Vinh that has 2 "layers" of house numbers like Vo Thi Sau Street. That means when the sign for the extension of the section from Nguyen Huy Oanh Street to the intersection with Bach Lieu Street had not been installed, this section was numbered separately fromThe street has no nameplate, but is called by word of mouth as a block of road, depending on which block the residents belong to, they are numbered in numerical order. Therefore, now the street has 2 house numbers, from 1 to 10. The second "layer" of house numbers starts from Nguyen Huy Oanh street and goes back, which used to belong to Truong Thi ward.

From here to the red light intersection with An Duong Vuong Street, the street is a lively stretch with Truong Thi Market on the East side and spacious houses on the West side, with many large stores. It can be said that this is the most "promising" stretch of Vo Thi Sau Street and there are still opportunities for urban designers because the East side still has open space from many unbuilt or simply built plans that can be easily modified, to think of a complementary plan for the unique "student street" inside.

But the strangest part is the stretch from the red light intersection with An Duong Vuong Street to the end of the route where it intersects with Phan Dang Luu Street; it is a quiet street all year round. Walking on the street, one feels as if one is lost in some romantic highland city. The road is wide and flat, but day and night there are few people passing by; in summer the sun blows strongly with the Lao wind, in winter the wicker lengthens, and in autumn the sidewalks are often covered with a thick carpet of yellow fallen leaves, and in spring the trees on both sides of the street are rarely trimmed, giving off a wild, fresh look.

Those feelings may be due to the lack of bustling streets at the beginning of the street, but mainly the walls of Vinh Brewery and the headquarters of Road Zone 4 on both sides; perhaps the sparse population is mainly from the middle and young civil servants, with husbands and wives and children working and studying all day long until midnight. The houses in this area are built almost in the old style, some houses have been renovated with new facades, but they still look modest and closed. In that long street, there is only one shop selling rice, fish sauce, bamboo brooms, and straw brooms.

Last year, there was a small shop on the west wall of an old retired painter, with rickety wooden tables and chairs selling children's candy and white wine with dried fish and pickles. Every afternoon, a former Sac Forest commando, an architect, an unemployed contractor, and a few new reporters gathered there. Stories about the East and the West, the past and present, and human affairs were whispered to each other until it became an addiction. Every afternoon, there was no one "missing"! One day, the Sac Forest commando relapsed with his battle wound, fell ill, and "passed away", and then the architect indulged in his passion for antiques... and so this group gradually dispersed, and the old painter also closed his shop. The street seemed to be a little empty.

The street is so long, but not boring; but going back and forth on the street is always an interesting experience and as mentioned, if Vo Thi Sau street is taken care of with intention, in the future it will be one of the streets that attracts visitors from afar because it shows the urban life of Vinh city in a subtle and interesting way. We think that it will be a street that grows bigger and bigger, the cultural features of Vietnamese urban areas will deepen, unlike what many people worry about when the street is filled with more and more fashion online shops, for example...

Article and photos:Sam Temple